It may have seemed that Mr Spock’s Tricorder would remain firmly in science fiction. But a gadget that can be used to diagnose an illness simply by holding it to the forehead, is now in the hands of consumers.

Maybe plans for the commercial exploration of the moon aren’t so far-fetched after all. The FAA, in a carefully worded policy statement, has essentially outlined a scenario by which a U.S.-based company – Bigelow Aerospace – could stake future claims to lunar property. That could be huge.